Dear Friends of Soil Health,

Thank you for your continued efforts in support of soil

health, and welcome to the first quarterly newsletter of the

Soil Health Institute. Through these newsletters, we plan

to provide an update of the Soil Health Institute’s ongoing

activities and accomplishments, and engage you as a

partner in our efforts and plans to advance the science and

application of soil health.

Since our 1st Annual Meeting in July, the Soil Health Institute

has established a home in Research Triangle Park, North

Carolina; secured more than $1 million in funding; made

steady progress on an Action Plan, National Soil Health

Assessment and creation of The Soil Health Research

Landscape Tool; and presented at eight conferences

throughout the United States, including the Business for

Social Responsibility Conference in New York City.

In September, the Institute confirmed nearly all Committee

Co-Chairs to inform the efforts in Research, Measurements

& Standards, Economics, Communications & Education,

Policy and Development, and received a three-year,

$450,000 grant to support the development of The Soil

Health Research Landscape Tool. In October, the Institute,

in partnership with Datu Research LLC, received a $626,000

grant from the Walton Family Foundation to quantify the

economic risks of soil health management systems. Please

review the position announcement in this newsletter and

consider applying or pass it along to others who may be

interested.

In recognition of the rapidly expanding interests in and

activities surrounding soil health, and the fact that this

issue is larger than any single

organization, the Soil Health

Institute convened 10 mostly

private-sector organizations with

major interests and initiatives

in soil health at The Samuel

Roberts Noble Foundation

in Ardmore, Oklahoma on

October 26-27. Our purpose

at this meeting was to identify

synergies, develop working

partnerships to bring our efforts

to scale, and establish a clear path forward for collaboration.

This meeting demonstrated the spirit of productivity and

unanimity around soil health. At its conclusion, participating

organizations unanimously agreed to establish a coordinating

coalition to help optimize the impact of our efforts and

provide clarity and strength to our respective priorities and

missions.

We plan for the Institute’s new website to be live by the end

of the year and The Soil Health Research Landscape Tool to

launch in January. Please follow the Soil Health Institute on

Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook to learn about upcoming

presentations, meetings, speaking engagements, activities

and funding opportunities. Please direct any announcements,

questions or comments to Byron Rath by email at brath@

soilhealthinstitute.org or by phone at 919.230.0303.

Thank you once again for your dedication to advance the

science and application of soil health.

Appreciatively,

C. Wayne Honeycutt, Ph.D.

President and CEO

SOIL HEALTH NEWS

▶ INSIDE THE INSTITUTE

FALL 2016 – Volume 1, Number 1

A number of soil health partners are working

in earnest to develop a National Soil Health

Assessment (NSHA). The purpose of the NSHA

is to generate data and analyses to:

■ establish baselines for soil health at regional to

national scales;

■ identify trends in changes in soil health;

■ establish a context to interpret soil health

information obtained for individual land

managers and local decision makers;

■ support selection of land management

practices that will lead to improvements in soil

health and the resulting benefits to agricultural

production and natural resources; and

■ provide information to policy makers

responsible for public policies in agriculture and natural resources.

Public and private sector collaboration will be required to ensure the NSHA’s success. The Institute is considering a plan to

test sampling designs and protocols on the State Soils – the most geospatially and agriculturally important soils in the 48

coterminous United States. The State Soils are represented in this map, created by USDA-NRCS at the Institute’s request.

Since August, the Soil Health Institute (SHI) has attended or

presented at eight conferences, including:

■ Stewards of the Future Conference Microbiome: Unseen Opportunities for Agriculture and Health – North Carolina State University

■ Protecting and Enhancing our Soil – the Foundation for Plant, Animal, and Human Life The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture

■ CQuest: Charting a Course for Climate Research in Agriculture International Life Sciences Institute in St. Louis

■ Business for Social Responsibility Conference 2016: Be Bold – New York City

▶ CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Credit: Created by National Soil Survey Center, USDA-NRCS, Soil Science Division on September 21, 2016

NATIONAL SOIL HEALTH ASSESSMENT FOCUSING FIRST ON STATE SOILS

At the invitation of General Mills, and in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the Soil Health Partnership, SHI presented on the “Scientific Basis for Soil Health” at the Business for Social Responsibility Conference where The Nature Conservancy announced their "Roadmap to U.S. Soil Health." Ken Powell, Chairman & CEO of General Mills, announced in the Conference’s Opening Keynote Address that soil health is a top priority and key area of impact for their business. SHI is inspired by food industry leaders like General Mills who recognize that a focus on soil health helps them achieve their sustainability goals and supports farmers in their stewardship of our natural resources. Recognizing that farmers cannot improve what they cannot measure, it remains SHI’s highest priority to establish measurements and standards to initiate and support an ongoing assessment of the health of United States’ soils.

Ten organizations with major interests and initiatives in soil

health met October 26-27 at The Samuel Roberts Noble

Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma to identify synergies,

develop working partnerships to bring soil health efforts to

scale and establish a clear path forward for collaboration.

At its conclusion, participating organizations unanimously

agreed to establish a coordinating coalition to help optimize

the impact of efforts and provide clarity and strength to our

respective priorities and missions. Participants currently are

working to develop a vision statement and statement of

purpose for the coalition. A next step will include engaging

key public sector partners.

Position: Agronomist/Agricultural Economist

Term: 6 to 12 months

Representatives from organizations that gathered on Oct. 26-27 at The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, OK (L-R): Sheldon Jones, Soil Health Institute; Rob Myers, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education; Michael Doane, The Nature Conservancy; Jim Gulliford, Soil and Water Conservation Society; Steve Shafer, Soil Health Institute; Byron Rath, Soil Health Institute; Jerry Hatfield, Tri-Societies; Chad Watts, Conservation Technology Information Center; Larry Clemens, The Nature Conservancy; Karl Anderson, Tri-Societies; Jeremy Peters, National Association of Conservation Districts; Nick Goeser, Soil Health Partnership; Wayne Honeycutt, Soil Health Institute; Lara Moody, The Fertilizer Institute; Cristine Morgan, Global Soil Security; and Beth Mason, National Association of Conservation Districts.

ORGANIZATIONS MEET TO DEFINE ROLES, ESTABLISH GREATER SOIL HEALTH COLLABORATION

The Soil Health Institute, a non-profit organization created

to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of

soil through scientific research and advancement, seeks

a professional agronomist or agricultural economist with

expertise in both fields for a term appointment appropriate for a sabbatical or short-term postdoctoral assignment. Duties include critical analysis and review of the peer-

reviewed literature relating soil health promoting practices

with on-farm economic impact, risk quantification, and

risk management; preparation of reports and articles

summarizing the literature on these topics; and creation

of outreach materials to educate farmers, commodity

organizations, scientists, extension personnel, and the public

on the economic benefits of managing soil to sustain and

enhance soil health. A Ph.D. in agronomy or agricultural

economics, with demonstrated research experience

linking both fields, is required. Research-level expertise in

statistics, economic analyses, agricultural production and/

or resource management practices is required. Residence

during the appointment at the Soil Health Institute’s office

near RTP is preferred but negotiable. Salary and benefits

are commensurate with experience. To apply, send a letter

of application, curriculum vitae, list of publications, and the

names/contact information of four references by December, 15, 2016 to Mr. Byron Rath: brath@soilhealthinstitute.org.

Position will remain open until filled.

▶ POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

2803 Slater Road | Suite 115 | Morrisville, NC 27560 | 919.230.0303

The Soil Health Institute (SHI) and Datu Research have received a $626,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to quantify the economic risks and rewards of soil health management systems used

in farming. Management practices that improve soil health can increase resilience to drought, improve water quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance sustainability. However, quantifying the economic impact of such practices is key for increasing farmer adoption, and such impacts are largely not yet quantified.

SHI will conduct a systematic review of scientific literature

that evaluates economic risk and yield impacts of soil

health-promoting practices, such as no-till, zone tillage,

reduced tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, manure/biosolid

application, and other management practices. SHI will

curate this data and conduct a comprehensive analysis to

determine how such factors as climatic zone, soil properties,

cropping system and management practices influence soil

health and economic risk relationships. Datu Research LLC,

Durham, NC, will conduct focus groups to learn what risks

farmers perceive in adopting cover crops, then collect actual

budget data from cover crop adopters to compare perceived

versus actual risks.

“Economics is a primary driver influencing adoption of soil

health-promoting practices and systems. Consequently,

to realize the environmental and resilience benefits of

soil health management systems, the economics of

such practices must be assessed, demonstrated and

communicated,” explains Wayne Honeycutt, Ph.D., SHI

president and CEO. “This generous grant from the Walton

Family Foundation will allow us to assess and communicate

how soil health management systems influence farmers’

investment risk. We believe it’s important to summarize

the nation’s research, viewing the results objectively from

a business perspective,” said Honeycutt. “We want to be

sure that farmers have the evidence-based information they

need in making their management decisions,” added Marcy

Lowe, Datu CEO.

Following data curation and analysis, SHI and Datu will develop fact sheets to distribute project findings to farmers through numerous public and private partners.

“The Soil Health Institute consists of a broad collaboration

of agricultural and environmental leaders that was created

to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil

through scientific research and advancement,” Honeycutt

said. “Studies show that increasing soil organic carbon

can significantly enhance resilience of our soils, cropping

systems and grazing systems to both drought and heavy

precipitation. Unfortunately, most of our cultivated soils have

lost approximately 20-40% of their native organic carbon,

thereby increasing crop vulnerability to extreme weather

events like drought. The Walton Family Foundation grant

will allow us to pull the scientific evidence together and

discern which management systems work best for both our

agricultural producers and our environment as a whole. The

on-farm surveys conducted by our partner, Datu Research,

will provide much needed ground-truthing of real world

economics as experienced by farmers. Collectively, this will

give us a fairly complete picture of how soil health practices

impact farmers’ economic risk.”

SOIL HEALTH INSTITUTE, DATU RESEARCH RECEIVE GRANT TO EVALUATE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SOIL HEALTH PRACTICES

© 2016 Soil Health Institute. All Rights Reserved.